O/T Recruitment of referees

[fulwoodshrimp]

As a football mad nation I don't understand why we cannot produce good quality referees. Even at the premiership level the standard is poor. I am no Burnley fan but watching today's game and the performance of referee Robert Jones I felt sorry for the Clarets. They were robbed by two key decisions made by this new referee. The penalty was debatable but probably the right decision. The goal disallowed by a "foul" on the Leeds goalkeeper was an horrendous decision. Essentially, the referee has decided the result of the game and gifted Leeds the points. No doubt this official will be allowed to spoil other games with awful decisions without any action being taken against him. This has got to change and poor refereeing decisions should lead to referees being demoted or even sacked.

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

It looked a legit Burnley equaliser. Leeds keeper was the author of his own misfortune when he went charging into the static Burnley striker and then fell over. Ref saw it differently and blew for the foul on the keeper, just as Burnley stuck it in the net. Isn't this what VAR was intended for? To overturn obvious errors. Mystifying! Didn't appear to even go to VAR.

[Freez]

Yep, goal, all day, daft decision that should have been overturned, but the VAR ref hates disagreeing with the match ref, so they bottle it.

[Sakhalin Shrimp]

Yep, goal, all day, daft decision that should have been overturned, but the VAR ref hates disagreeing with the match ref, so they bottle it.

Never a goal, in fact the Burnley player should have got a red

[Freez]

Thought you might say that!

[Sakhalin Shrimp]

Thought you might say that!

and that was with not seeing the game.

[tim-sanchez]

Yep, goal, all day, daft decision that should have been overturned, but the VAR ref hates disagreeing with the match ref, so they bottle it.

VAR actually couldn't check it because the ref blew the whistle before the goal was scored. Massive mistake, but whether VAR would have overturned it even if they could is anyone's guess.

My view on why we struggle to recruit referees is at the grassroots level. Refs turn up to a Sunday league match, and it can be an 18 year old lad on his own trying to control 22 middle-aged men with no support. A lot of refs report suffering abuse, either physical or verbal, and so I think they give up or stick to youth football and don't bother to progress. I think loads of potentially great refs are "lost" this way.

Also, with all the money in the game I think they're massively underpaid. At our level, refs are still part-time, so will likely have a second job, but after working all week they're expected to keep pace with professionals training every day. Lots of refs likely can't commit to years of part-time work on the chance of promotion. Professional football deserves professional refs.

[ianmcm]

I've refereed school and college games on and off for just under 30 years and have eventually come to quite enjoy it. It's taken a long time to learn how to do it with any degree of proficiency however, especially when there are routinely no linespeople. Anyway, at one point, many years ago, I was offered an entry-level training course, which lasted two days. It was extremely boring and that fairly much put me off. Also, your eyesight has to meet a better standard than mine did even then (insert your own punchline), though this may have changed.

Playing (at a *very* low level) in London for a few years, I saw some pretty horrendous things happening to refs. For 15 quid per match, as it was then, you would have to have been fairly masochistic to put yourself through it I thought. Even doing junior football, you can obviously get quite a bit of abuse, often good-natured, occasionally not so much.

Dyche made the point that Burnley and the other less 'high profile' clubs tend to get allocated more of the EPL 'novices' (as is Robert Jones). This may or may not be true but even those 'lower-ranking' fixtures (with respect to Leeds and the Clarets) are so highly scrutinised. The decision which chalked off the Burnley 'goal' looked pretty bad but is it worthy of all the hand-wringing coverage it has already had? Unfortunately for Jones he will now probably go back onto some form of probation or at least be 'rested' for a few weeks. Football is a game riddled with errors - that's part of its attraction - but endlessly poring over refereeing mistakes perhaps isn't totally helping the cause of recruiting.

VAR already disrupts the flow of many games so badly (and often unhelpfully, I think) that extending its remit isn't something I would vote for, though I do like the principle of the thing.

[Keith]

As a football mad nation I don't understand why we cannot produce good quality referees...
...poor refereeing decisions should lead to referees being demoted or even sacked.

You summed up the problem in your own post. We don't have enough top quality refs, so poorer refs are given bigger games, simply due to a lack of high quality talent. If those refs were demoted or sacked, then who replaces them? Even lower quality refs.

I think some of the answers are in this thread already. Fund full time refs down to National League level. Allow them to develop as a career. I bet plenty of players who failed to make the grade would consider refereeing if it was a reasonably well paid alternative with a career structure. They already understand the game and will be physically fit, so they just need more training & experience.

[Keith]

With regards to VAR, it could be solved very easily.

Allow the pitch referee to view the incident once more, at full speed. If it is a 'clear error', as VAR is supposed to be used for, the ref will change their mind instantly. If it isn't clear, then the original decision stands. Then let the pundits on Match of the Day watch it twenty times, from five angles, in slow motion.

Yes, errors will still occur, but the 'clear ones' would be ruled out very quickly, with minimal fuss or disruption to the game. Waiting three minutes for a goal to be decided is ruining the game.